Enhanced optical superfocusing effect at an all-dielectric nanocone tip
We present a novel method for generating an extremely confined nanoscale light field using an all-dielectric conical nanotip coupled to a microfiber. By launching a radially polarized TM<sub>01</sub> mode into the tip, we achieve constructive interference of longitudinal electric field components at the apex, resulting in a highly localized optical hotspot with sub-10 nm dimensions and a mode volume as small as 10<sup>-7</sup> λ<sup>3</sup>. This approach overcomes the limitations of conventional dielectric tips and rivals plasmonic superfocusing without incurring ohmic losses. Numerical simulations reveal that the focal spot features a high intensity enhancement ratio (> 3500), strong peak-to-background contrast (> 30 dB), and circular symmetry. Furthermore, we demonstrate the ability to shape the light field into arbitrary nanoscale patterns by modifying the tip geometry. These findings open new avenues for low-loss, high-precision light confinement in applications such as optical nano tweezers, nanoscopy, nano lasers, and nanoparticle spectroscopy.
Authors
- Weinan Feng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-9849-9021)
- Makoto Tsubokawa
Publication Details
- Journal
- Optics Express
- Published
- 2026-01-02
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1364/oe.580482
- Primary Topic
- Near-Field Optical Microscopy
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00